The subject invention relates to a method and apparatus for centering and aligning sheets as they are transported along a path. By "sheets" herein is meant the substantially planar, rectangular objects. More particularly the subject invention relates to a method and apparatus for aligning sheets of paper or accumulations of sheets of paper, which may be folded or unfolded, envelopes, completed mailpieces and the like as they are transported through a mail production system.
As such sheets are transported through various types of mail production equipment they will frequently become skewed or off-center with respect to the path along which they are transported. This is particularly a problem where the sheets are intended to be inserted into an envelope to form a completed mailpiece. Thus, such mail production systems frequently include one or more mechanisms for centering and aligning these sheets with respect to the path as they are transported. Typically such centering and aligning mechanisms would require a sensor which would generate a signal when a sheet approached the mechanism and some form of motor or actuator responsive to the signal for driving a relatively complex, multi-element mechanism to center and align the sheet. Additionally, such mechanism frequently required that transport of the sheet be halted while the centering and alighting operation was carried out.
Thus it is an object of the subject invention to provide a simple mechanism for centering and aligning sheets as they are transported along a path.